Puccini in China

Singers perform an aria from “Turandot” at a news conference in Beijing in May. In recent years, there have been at least six Chinese productions of “Turandot.” Filmmaker Zhang Yimou, who is staging a version for China’s 60th anniversary at the National Stadium, known as the Bird’s Nest, also directed a $15-million spectacle in 1998 inside Beijing’s Forbidden City.  (Alexander F. Yuan / Associated Press)

A musician rehearses in the orchestra before a performance of “Turandot” in May during the 2009 Beijing Opera festival, China’s first, held at the new performing arts center from mid-April to early July. Four out of nine full-length operas in the festival were Puccini works, with “Tosca” opening the event. They were were interspersed with revolutionary classics such as “Daughter of the Communist Party.”  (Elizabeth Dalziel / Associated Press)

A violin player heads to her position at the orchestra pit ahead of a performance of “Turandot” during the 2009 Beijing Opera festival at the National Center for the Performing Arts. A 2007 version of the opera was set in modern-day Shanghai with the successful suitor, Calaf, solving the riddles by surfing the Internet.  (Elizabeth Dalziel / Associated Press)